Hair pick-up for electric shavers



Dec. 6, 1955 F. F. MUNTZ HAIR PICK-UP FOR ELECTRIC SHAVERS Filed Sept.17, 1952 w a Tam n V 0 :5: Z u 6m 2 m m M 6 Z K% M 2 merit of theshaver. One com'rno'n means emp "ridge projecting laterallyfromtlies'tati 'and substantially flush with the sk United States Patent2,725,625 HAIR PICK-UP F012 ELEGTRIC sHAvE'Rs Frank Muutz, N ilesTownship, lierrieu County, Mich. Application Se tember-17, i952, SerialNb. 309,972

4 Claims. (Cl. 30-34 This invention relates to hairpick iips f6?electric shavers.

Many men have difli cult y in fisin jeleetfie "shavers because of thefact that the shaver the hair of their beards and posit permit it to becut by the cuttin I Men having curly hair, and part-lculai'ly those'whose beards are made up of curly hair, find tha'tiiiiich of the hairof their boards will curl back toward the skin and thus lie flatagaainst the skin so that the cutter of an electric shaver cannot reaehit. Other then eiiperience difliculty in the use of electricslilztiftrbecause the hair of their beards grows at an acute angle tothe siirface of the skin rather than substantially perpendieulai' to thesurface of the skin and thus lies close to the skin, and for thisreasoncannot be picked partieularly when the shaver is passed o'vei' theskin in paths disposed in the same direction at which the hair extendsfrom the skin. w

Some of the manufacturers of le'et rio ishavifs reco nize theseConditions and provide 'eu ttmg heads of their electric shavers withvarious contours and 'ineans intended to assist in positioning use hairef the seats in a manner to permit it to "be cut b the loy this purpose,which is particularly applieahle in "c" nection with cutters of the typein which a ely slotted cutting'head reciprocates lengthw e within anouter slotted stationary cutter, is to ide a rib "or f'y 'eu'tter headnt ting'snrfaee or outermost face of the slotted an: er head. This g'eis commonly provided "with shallow note'hes.o'r grooves, and the thoughtor principle involvedisthat the notched ridge construction will servesomewhat the ea comb to cause the air "of the heard to sland on end in aposition where it may be cut effectively. Suc'haifoinbshaped ridge maybe effective in some instances, but many men find it is iiot sulfides: mpastries the hair of their beards for an efiective, rapid and easyshaving operation. I p

g It is the primary (sweet of this invention to overcome thesediflicultis bypfovidiri'g alongside the cutter head a reticulated memberoffiiie mesh so orientedwvith reference to the cutter 'lie'ad as toengage the adja- "cent to the cutter head "an in advance of ilie afterhead with its "retrain s sewing o deflect the hairs of the beard info"ap'sitrah projecting from the skin in such a relation that they arereadily cut by the cutter head.

Other objects will be apparent from the following specification.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an electric shaver having two connectingheads with which my improved hair pick-up mechanism is employed.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the shaver with my hair pickup means applied.

points along its ends. 'memb'er is provided with a series of transverseslots ex- Fig; 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 3-"3 ofFig. 2.

Referring to the drawing which illustrates one embodiment of theinvention, I have chosen to illustrate the use of the invention with ashaver having a double cutter head. It will be understood, however, thatthe invention is applicable to shavers having only a single cutter heador having more than two cutter heads. The numeral 10 designates ahousing which mounts a suitable electric motor or vibrator (not shown)and which is adapted to drive one or more pins or shafts 12, dependingupon the number of cutter heads provided in the device. The housing willinclude an outer end wall 14 which is apertured at 16 to receive thepins or shafts 12 with clearance and accommodate movement thereof withinthe housing. The housing will provide grooves or sockets adjacent itsouter end wall to receive the cutter units.- In the form illustratedwhere two cutters are provided, a central rib 18 projects outwardly andlengthwise of the outer wall 14 at its center with its sides formingWalls for abutting the inner sides of the cutter units. A detachablerigid band member 20 fits around a reduced end portion of the housing 10and .projects beyond the end wall 14 so as to cooperate with the centralpartition 18 in defining elongated grooves or sockets to receive thecutter units.

The cutter units usually comprise interfitting members. As hereillustrated, an outer cutter member has a base portion 22 from whichproject thin side walls 24 which are interconnected by an outer wall 26.The outer wall 26 may be flat, as shown, or may be crowned or curved ifdesired. The side walls 24 may be paraleach cutter, with its outersurface substantially flush with the outer surface of the wall 26, andthis rib 'or flange may be provided with shallow n'otch'es at spaced Theouter Wall of the cutter tending therethrough, as best illustrated inFig. 2. These slots may extend through the ribs 28 and along theoutermost portions of the side walls 24, 'if desired. The base 22 has anaperture 32 to receive a pin 12 therethrough with clearance.

slotted.

The parts are preferably held in assembled relation by set screws 42which are passed through the housing, as

throughring portion 20, and bear against the base 22 of the outer cuttertopres's it against the rib '18 and 'thereby lock-the outer-'rnember inplace. The inner-member is freeto reciprocate within the outer member'asmovedby the pin 12. Th'econstruction above described is only o'ne ofvarious types of construction which are now standard and conventional onthe market, and has been described because it is one of the types ofshavers which I have found my invention most readily adapted to fit.

In shavers having single cutting heads, or in shavers having multiplecutting heads, I provide alongside the sides of the cutter, at one orboth sides in the case of a single unit, and at the outer margin of oneor both of the outermost cutters in the multiple cutter head, areticulated member located as illustrated. This reticulated member maybe of any suitable construction but I prefer to use a woven wire memberhaving a fine mesh, such as a mesh in the range from 40 to 72 wires perinch. I find that a mesh of 60 wires, that is, a screen of substantiallytile fineness commonly used in a tea strainer, is preferred.substantially rectangular piece of recticulatedmaterial of a lengthsubstantially equal to the length of the cutter head is bent at itscenter to provide a curved or looped portion 44. The two end portions 46preferably lie fiat and are preferably in engagement with each other.These members 46 are preferably positioned in engagement with at least aportion of the outer surface of each of the outer walls 24 of the cutterand are of such a length that, when the loop portion 44 is positionedwith its outermost part substantially flush with the outermost part 26of the cutter, the inner portion will extend to and preferably beyondthe set screw 42.

Two difierent types of constructions for mounting the member areillustrated in Fig. 3. That at the right-hand side contemplates theformation of screw-receiving apertures in the parts 4-6 through whichthe set screw 42 may pass. It is also contemplated in this form that aplate or binder 48 may be employed to hold the parts of the screentogether when not assembled in a shaver, and this plate may likewise beapertured if desired. The arrangement will be such that the recticulatedmember is held with its loop portion 44 closely adjacent and alongsidethe cutter with its crown or crest parallel to the cutter andsubstantially flush with the outermost surface of the cutter. Therecticulated member is held effectively in this position by the same setscrew or means which serves to hold the cutter means in position.

A second form of construction is illustrated at the left in Fig. 3,wherein the loop portion 44 and the end portions 46 of the reticulatedmember are formed as previously described but the portions 46 are notapertured, and, instead, are of such a length that their innermostportion will terminate opposite a groove or socket 48 formed in thehead, so that the screen will be pressed into said groove or socket bythe set screw 12 and thus held in the same efiective position mentioned.

The loop or outer bent portions 44 of the recticulated member are sopositioned that they will contact the skin adjacent to the cutter and inadvance of the cutter. The screen is of sufficient fineness so thathairs which are contacted are combed or displaced from their normalposition and tend to assume a position more nearly perpendicular to theskin so that they are effectively positioned to be cut by the cutterhead as the stroke of the shaver moves the cutter behind the screen. Itis possible to provide an efiective shaver in which only one of thescreens is employed. It is recognized, however, that electric shaverscut effectively in either of two directions substantially parallel tothe slots 30 so that a reciprocating movement across the skin willcommonly be employed and the use of two screens at opposite sides of thecutter will be pre' ferred for this reason. 1

Where two or more cutters are provided, they are commonly spaced apartas by the ridge 18, as illustrated in Fig. 2. I have found that arecticulated member of substantially U-shape, inserted to have a curvedouter crown portion 50 and leg portions 52 may be employed. This memberis positioned between the two cutters as accommodated by the formationof grooves 54 at opposite sides of the rib 18 and defined partly by thecutters. These grooves will preferably be of such width as to grip theend portions of the reticulated member when the cutter heads are clampedin position. This reticulated member serves the same function as thatpreviously described, but, being positioned between the two cutterheads, serves as a means to engage and displace hair at the part of theskin between that engaged by the two cutter heads as the shaver is used.Thus there will be the same combing action as above described in advanceof each of the cutters of a multiple head unit.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated anddescribed, it will be understood that changes in the construction may bemade within the scope of the appendedclaims without departing from thespirit of the invention.

I claim: a

1. In an electric shaver, in combination, a housing, a transverselyslotted non-circular tubular stationary cutter member carried by saidhousing, and a fine mesh screen positioned alongside said cutter member,said screen having two end portions and a curved intermediate portionpositioned outermost and substantially flush with the slotted portion ofsaid cutter member, and means for anchoring said screen end portions tosaid housing in predetermined position.

2. In an electric shaver, in combination, a housing, a tubular cuttermember fixedly carried by said housing, said cutter having an outerskin-contacting transversely slotted wall and a substantially fiat sidewall portion, and a fine mesh screen having a curved intermediateportion and juxtaposed ,end portions, and means for securing the screenend portions to said housing positioned adjacent said sidewall with saidcurved intermediate portion outermost and projecting substantially fiushwith said outer wall.

'3. In combination, an electric shaver having a cutter with asubstantially fiat outer transversely slotted wall, a fine mesh screenhaving a central curved portion and juxtaposed end portions, said screenbeing positioned alongside said cutter with its central portionoutermost and so located that the plane of said wall is substantiallytangentthereto.

4. In combination, an electric shaver having a housing, a cutter elementwith a transversely slotted substantially fiat outer wall and sidewalls, a rigid band detachably mounted on said housing and encirclingsaid cutter element and a reticulated member of fine mesh mounted infixed position within the outline of said band having a portionjuxtaposed to a side wall'of said cutter and an outer elongatedtransversely curved portion located alongside said cutter to present aconvex surface substantiallyflush with said cutter element for contactwith the skin of'a user adjacent to and in advance of said outer wallwhen said shaver is held in shaving position with said outer-cutter wallbearing flat against the users skin. I

7 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS311,466 Brokhalme, Feb. 3, 1885 2,164,820 Jean July 4, 1939 2,335,413Hicks Nov. 30, 1943 2,343,705 Rand Mar. 7, 1944 2,440,586 Jost... Apr.27, 1948 2,574,317 Berg Nov. 6, 1951 2,670,534 Haber Mar. 2, 1954

